Educational Content of Basal Reading Texts: Implications for Comprehension Instruction.

The choice of a basal text is a decision with implications not only for' reading ccd1prehension, but for other areas of the curriculum. Many articles, poems, and stories in basal texts expose students to content dealing with (1) subjects such as art, science, and enduring social themes; (2) applied knowledge of processes f human functioning; and (3) living and acting rightly. But many basal selection-i-contain no opportunities to learn from text on any or all of these dimen3ions. In fact, across the texts we examined, only 4% of the selections had content on all three dimensions ofsubject matter, function, and ethos. Of those seleCtions that present educational opportunities for subject matter learning, three quarters present factUal information but no applied knowledge about proce4ses of human functioning or models of timetested virtues. Some basal r r aders show processes of human functioning in more than half of their seleCtions, while others contain no' educational cqn-